That building, seen from the back, is the Hartford Building (Henry Ives Cobb, architect, 1893) at the southwest corner of Dearborn and Madison Streets. The early skyscrapers of the day usually had only one staircase, and it was not fire-protected. The Rookery in Chicago (Burnham and Root, 1885-1888) has a similar semicircular spiral staircase rising up one side of its interior light court.

Does anyone have any idea what the part of the building is that has spiraling windows just to the left of the three awnings in the right third of the photo? I'd guess it houses a spiral staircase, but have never seen anything like it before.

I can imagine Jurgis Rudkus walking aimlessly through these streets.

With the obvious lack of AC units on the roofs, it's plain to see why so many windows were open. Offices with a window must have gone for a premium. Try to imagine the people in the inner offices trying to work wearing the heavy clothing of the time. "Of course you can use my fan, Myrtle."

[Inner offices in large buildings would have windows opening on an air shaft - Dave]

For the photogs who visit this site: are there digital cameras capable of capturing this scene, or do we still need large format cameras?

[A large- or medium-format digital camera would be more than up to the task. - Dave]

For anyone wishing to re-create this view today, the photographer's vantage was the current site of Harris Bank at 111 West Monroe.

Seems a little misplaced. Otherwise, I think the Boyce Building is still there.

The street running along the left side of the picture is Clark Street, looking north from approximately Monroe Street (Madison Street is the cross street with the blurry cable car train whizzing by). The notable tall buildings visible include: the Ashland Block (at the far left), the Schiller Building (to the right of the Ashland Block and partially obscured), the Unity Building (behind the "Boyce Building"), the Masonic Temple (the tallest one in sight) and the first Champlain Building (at the far right, next to the smaller building marked "Boston Store"). Needless to say, all of these have been demolished; the Champlain was the first to go - in 1916 - for the expansion of the Boston Store.

Arnheim the Tailor places this picture roughly at 155-157 South Clark Street.

You can also see the original version of the Morrison Hotel, which eventually was expanded to 40 stories. The building was razed in 1965 and is now the site of the First National Bank.